Steel Coleman sinned in his heart the day he saw fifteen-year-old Riley Spencer. Driven by lust he couldn't acknowledge or control, he encourages his mother to marry Riley's father, joining the two families and creating a living hell for Steel in the process. In an attempt to spare his sanity, he goes for long rides from the family ranch, and he's not home to protect the family when bandits strike. Riley survives but their parents are murdered. Haunted by grief and guilt, Steel flees to catch the men responsible, promising his younger stepbrother he would return. He never does. When they meet again ten years later, Riley is a far cry from the boy Steel left behind. And he needs his former stepbrother to pay for the very real sin of abandoning him when he needed Steel the most. But their fateful meeting sends Riley running. Leaving Steel is the hardest thing he's ever done, but Riley understands what Steel knew all along -- it's too dangerous to stay. Will he be prepared to face the consequences when Steel inevitably catches up with him? Can forgiveness be possible?

Steel's Redemption

“I mean they’re yours to command. Everything I have is yours to do with as you please.”


“Part of your penance?” Riley spat the final word with a decade’s worth of disgust.


“No,” Steel said steadily. “I’ve paid my penance. But there’s no longer any point of denying the truth. Right or wrong, I’ve been yours since you were a boy. I’ve tried to fight it and I’ve tried to run from it. I bled for it, and when that didn’t work, I tried to bleed the world. But you showed me the futility of that. I know you don’t want me but I’m still offering…everything.”


“Steel I want—” The big boom of a rifle crashed over his words, the bullet ricocheting off the tree just past Steel’s ears. The horses reared up, neighing their alarm, spinning to break away from the threat. Riley and Steel were fast, though, catching their bridles before they bolted. Steel swung himself up on the back of Smokey, wheeling the horse’s head toward the direction of the shot.


Chapter 15